Sunday, November 30, 2008

Howlin' Wolf (aka Chester Arthur Burnett, June 10, 1910 – January 10, 1976) began playing music with a band in 1948 and made his first recordings in 1951. From that point forward he performed and recorded regularly and to worldwide acclaim.

I've had his 1960 version of Spoonful stuck in my head for the last few days, so I thought I'd share that tune and a few others.

Monday, November 24, 2008

A VHS bootleg of this show has been around for years. It's not quite as consistently clear as the Reign In Blood era footage from earlier, but this is a complete and entire set from the World Sacrifice tour.

This show is from the 31st of August 1988 and is in New York City. A few days earlier, on the 26th of August, I had been in attendance at their performance at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago.

Went with a couple friends and we got there while Trouble was playing. Always dug Trouble with their Sabbathy heavy grooves. Even with their very pro-God, positive lyrics in the face of a Slayer crowd; a huge number of folks were down with 'em. Solid and heavy set. Danzig was next. He was a lil wobbly at first, but sounded great as his set progressed. Cool to hear a few Misfits tunes too; London Dungeon and 1 or 2 others I think. Everyone was there to see Slayer, and looking back now it may have been Slayer at near peak performance perfection. Bringing some more down tempo parts and songs helped diversify their sound & power. The South of Heaven release takes a few knocks from some Slayer die-hards for not being as fast from start to finish as Reign In Blood, but I'm a huge fan of the record and it's addition of slower material. This 1988 Aragon show stands out as my favorite of all the many Slayer shows I've been witness to and as such I had to bookend the earlier Slayer blog with this additional, blistering live footage from that same tour in 1988. The crowd in NY literally starts ripping up cushions and chairs as more mayhem descends towards the end of the show, but Slayer rips with a killer set.

Many speed metal thanks to manuker for getting this slice of sonic history up on YouTube.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

In the past I've posted a few of these clips as comments on my own or other folks MySpace pages, but presented here now is as a complete assemblage of this one show as possible. This footage comes from exactly the same time I first became aware of and a huge fan of Slayer. So while I was not in attendance at this performance, it does bring back a boat load of memories. Saw them in Chicago several times during this period at the Aragon Ballroom (aka Brawlroom), which is somewhat similar in layout to the Ritz. This seems a pretty accurate representation of my now getting hazy memories of those first few Slayer shows. Really gnarly heaviness and sonic power coupled with insane speed. Still actually own the t-shirt shown below. Mine no longer looks similar to this photo. It's a washed out gray color now, with a few holes and has shrunk far below it's original XL size.

The visual quality of the clips below are ok, but the sound quality is uniquely clear and good. Really good. Well, check 'em out below and lemme know what ya think.

All clips were posted on YouTube by evilaggression and I extend hearty thanks for their existence.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

A giant in the world of cartoons, Tex Avery generated a rich legacy of many colorful, playfully surreal and truly entertaining shorts for folks of all ages. From the late forties to the early fifties Avery created the "...of Tomorrow" series: The House Of Tomorrow (1949), Car of Tomorrow (1951), T.V. of Tomorrow (1953) and The Farm Of Tomorrow (1954). In my opinion, unjustly derided by some Avery purists, these cartoon nuggets are un-pc time capsules, presenting a tongue in cheek - but truly optimistic view for the post World War 2 future.

Monday, November 3, 2008

FETISH was an exhibition featuring David Lynch's photos of Christian Louboutin's shoes. Taking place in late 2007 in Paris at the Galerie du Passage, this fascinating artistic undertaking from David Lynch is striking and visually lush. Since I was financially unable to make the scene back in '07 and also unable to purchase any prints or exhibition catalog (if they even exist); this blog affords myself (and you readers as well) the opportunity to partake.

Released in 1995, Lumière and Company is a unique venture in which 40 film makers were given the opportunity to create under some rather specific stipulations. As a tribute to the 100 year anniversary, they could only shoot with the original Cinematographe which was invented by the Lumière Brothers and also film while working under conditions similar to those of 1895. Other rules included a time limit of nothing more than one minute, no synchronized sound could be utilized and no more than 3 scene takes were allowed. The line up of directors was a list of the internationally renowned and includes Wim Wenders, Spike Lee, Lasse Hallström, John Boorman and David Lynch amongst others.

I found the most interesting of the bunch to be the segment from a longtime favorite, David Lynch. Eraserhead (1977) was the first of his films I discovered and was hooked from that point forward. Still harbor fond memories of trekking to downtown Chicago for the midwestern premiere of Blue Velvet (1986) with a buddy and loving the guts out of that flick. David Lynch still manages to tickle my gray matter and massage my eyeballs with most all of his artistic endeavors and this short film does not disappoint on any level.

Titled "Premonition Following An Evil Deed", this black and white film offers up a fever dream vision from Lynch. Distinctive and disturbing in even measures, there is more visual storytelling and evocative imagery at work here than in most any of the top Hollywood movies of the last ten years. Enough of my blather, I'll let the film speak for itself, followed by Mr. Lynch commenting briefly.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

In the 1980s, the USA Channel was the spot to watch for the late night, hodge podge on the Stuart Shapiro produced Night Flight program. With content that included music segments, short films and features, Night Flight provided a cornucopia of entertainment from off the beaten path. In a pre-internet and YouTube free world, this show was gold. A syndicated version also existed briefly in the early 1990s.

A cartoon that received many airings on Night Flight, as well as becoming a favorite of mine, was Jac Mac & Rad Boy Go!; created, directed and written by Wesley Archer. A colorful mix of anarchy and wild action, this cartoon rocks and rolls before culminating in a message for the youth. So if you're not careful, you just might learn something. Wesley Archer went on to continue working in animation and illustration with work involving: the films One Crazy Summer (1986) & Idiocracy (2006) and television programs such as - The Tracey Ullman Show, The Simpsons & King of the Hill, amongst other projects. Mike Judge has admitted being a fan; so it's not a stretch to make the connection between this short and the dynamic duo of Beavis and Butthead.

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